Scenario: Executive Team at the Bank

Things are going well for the company. They could assume that things will continue

They want to identify upcoming threats

CEO:

Alright everyone, phones away

Our wallet share is up 12% quarter after quarter, we had a great review at our last shareholders’ meeting, and we’re holding steady for the last 3 quarters.

So tell me, what are we missing? What do we need to be thinking about now that things are going well?

CFO:

It’s time to roll up our sleeves and help ourselves to assess our threats, to think about the future. No one was ready for the Global Financial Crisis in ’08. We don’t want to see something like that happen again. Now is the time, when we’re feeling good. We all know that things can change over night politically, economically, socially.

Head of Strategy:

We have an extraordinary team with data, actuarial science, 35 PhDs that are weighing data against global benchmarks, international regulation, etc. I would urge all of you, please, trust this team, they’re a wonderful team. We did not see ’08 coming, but we’re in a much better position with this sort of data to predict this almost completely.

Head of HR:

I feel so strongly that we have such great human capital. We have boots on the ground. Our team is fantastic. The problem in ’08 was that the information at the bottom wasn’t making it into the boardroom. Now we’ve done a lot of work to change that, but we really need to be putting them in a position where they can be heard.

CEO:

This is good. This kind of friction helps us reveal our blind spots. We should be doing this on every department on every floor.

Head of Retail Products:

There is concern in the product department as well, about the viability of the product. We want to review over and over the build of the product because demaind from the consumers is changing all the time. Everything is crowdsource now, where they always want something new. I don’t think we were covered before so well. I don’t think big data maybe had found any red flags on this yet, but I think we need to check with all the departments.

CEO:

Yes, and we have to ensure that our products still align with our values. We can’t budge on that. Banks are supposed to prevent these kinds of financial disasters, no cause them.

Head of HR:

I feel right now at this juncture, our greatest resource is our team. I will be a strong advocate for making sure their voices are heard.

Head of Strategy:

I would also like, once again, to press this idea of big data. It is much more complex that what we know. It could very much shed a light on any blind spots.

CEO:

This is not a zero sum game. We can rely completely on your expertise [nods at HR] and your expertise [nods at strategy], right? We need to be looking throughout the company for any ideas and information we can get, as well as outside the company.

CFO:

Now we should be talking about this product’s situation, because I had this email from him

<<crosstalk>>

Head of Retail Products:

Yes, Daniel. He had a concern that the interest was too high on the new packet that we were talking about.

Debrief Scenario, Part 1

That was an example of a discovery meeting.

The CEO creates a space where he says “yes, we’re doing well, but that’s not what this is about. What are we missing?”

This is a pivotal moment.

This creates a frame for discovery.

He’s turning to this team to invite them for ideas.

All the phone are put away, allowing everyone to be in the moment.

Pause to reflect.

It’s so easy to lose yourself in the success.

Success can be limiting when we become complacent.

Diverse team

Not just different departments, but different cultures.

Still able to work with each other.

Because it’s a diverse team, there were diverse ideas as well

Thinking about how we are going to diffuse information across the organisation.

There was advocacy of ideas

Openness to other ideas, not just advocacy

It’s not a zero sum game.

Productive conflict

We want to get different views out on the table.

Understanding of each other’s contributions

How they were going to work together

CEO put both ideas in play. Didn’t make a false choice.

We want those differences expressed.

Alignment of actions with values

They bought in the voice of the customer, the bought in the voices across the floors.

In many ways, it was about multiple stakeholders who were outside, the external environment.

They are reflecting forward

What can we learn?

We’ve made mistakes, there have been problems. Let’s not do that.

The Ladder of Inference (Argyris, 1990)

In these types of discovery meetings, you’re not just fighting your judgements and beliefs against someone else’s judegements and beliefs.

Let’s get down and talk about why we think what we think.

What are we assuming?

The Ladder of Inference

Using the ladder of inference:

Observe what are the beliefs and assumptions.

What are the judgements made

What are the conclusions drawn

Are there any culturally attributed meanings

Observe what people say and do.

How do we go about observing teams and groups?

Be as descriptive as possible when you observe, avoid interpretation or conclusion

Things to pay attention to:

Observe the setting – the setting influences team behaviour.

e.g. meeting held in a cold room, everyone cross their arms to keep warm, but meeting organisers was interpreting this as everyone being defensive

Conversation

Jot down quotes (gives a sense of the language being used)

Particular language is often used over and over

Look for non-verbal behaviour

Connect this with what people are doing, what’s happening

Self-as-an-instrument: our reactions are important, they are only one data point. Keep track of your reactions. Look for data that corroborates that.

If you see someone that looks very angry, don’t just use your own reaction, but look at their tone of voice, what words they’re saying.

As you get better at observations, you get better at picking up things that you missed before. Sometime’s you’ll get hints at the undiscussable issues.

You don’t have to be a leader to use the ladder of inference. By using it yourself, you invite others to do the same, and come to a different way of thinking about this.